Herzog’s office invites AG, Netanyahu’s lawyer to launch talks for potential plea deal in PM’s trial

President Isaac Herzog’s legal adviser invites the attorney general and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s lawyer to the President’s Residence to begin discussions to reach “agreements” over the premier’s ongoing criminal trial, meaning a plea bargain.

Earlier this week, Herzog ruled out granting Netanyahu’s request for a pardon at this stage, with Hebrew media reporting that the president is disinclined to go against the advice of the Justice Ministry’s Pardons Department, which said that the prime minister’s request does not meet the criteria for a pardon.

Herzog’s legal adviser Michal Tzuk states in her letter to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, the head of Israel’s prosecution service, as well as to Netanyahu’s lawyer, Amit Hadad, that an “arrangement” would be in the interest of the country, adding that the president has publicly expressed this position several times.

“You are therefore invited to come to the President’s Residence as soon as possible to establish the necessary process for holding these talks with a willing heart and with good and appropriate intentions, with both sides entering the room free of commitments and conditions,” Tzuk writes to Baharav-Miara and Hadad.

She asks them to reply to the invitation by May 3.